Mia Khalifa said it took ‘nine years of therapy’ to make decisions again after choosing damaging adult career aged 21

Mia Khalifa has opened up on her former career as an adult star and the impact it had on her ability to make decisions for herself.

The 31-year-old, who is of Lebanese and American heritage, became known around the world at age 21 after she starred in her first pornographic film.

The video polarised opinion, however, millions tuned in to watch it on PornHub alone and her name was the most searched-for person on the website.

Khalifa only went on to record a handful of other adult films over the course of a three month period before putting an end to her career in porn.

But that time period was enough for her to gain immense popularity across the world that went beyond her being a porn star, with Khalifa being the most-searched for adult star in 2016 and 2018.

She has since embarked on a career on subscription platform OnlyFans, where it is estimated that she earns an estimated $6.2 million (£4.64 million) a month from her posts.

Her time as a porn star is long behind her, but in a recent interview with British journalist Louis Theroux, Khalifa revealed the long term impacts the short spell in the adult industry had on her.

Mia Khalifa says she had almost a decade of therapy following the end of her adult career (Darren Gerrish / Getty Images)

Sitting down with Theroux for The Louis Theroux Podcast on Spotify, she opened up on how it crippled her mental health for almost a decade.

Speaking to 54-year-old Theroux, she revealed she felt 'clouded by shame' and even shuddered at hearing someone say her name.

"The reason I used to have a lot of trouble talking about it is because I was extremely clouded by shame," Khalifa said. "I used to have a visceral reaction to even hearing the name Mia and knowing that if someone is calling me by that name, they are seeing me in a way that I don’t want to be seen in.

"But that had a lot more to do with my mental health than it does about the bigger picture of things.

"I think that nine years of therapy is a lot and it's not because of what I went through in the industry.

She says she felt 'clouded by shame' (Edward Berthelot/GC Images)

"It’s what I had to go through to get to a point in my life where I feel like I am of a healthy state of mind to make decisions in my life.

"And that's how long it took me to make those decisions that are so life changing."

Khalifa added: "When you're 19, 20, 21 years old,18 most of the time, that's what they're hoping for.

"You don't know what you're going to want for your life or what you want out of your life.

"You don't even know yourself that young. You should not make life changing decisions when you're that young."

She has previously been vocal about what needs to be changed in the adult entertainment industry, adding that she wanted other adult actors to not have to go through what she did.